Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as US pledges more Patriot missiles to
Ukraine
[July 14, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to
Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on
Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a
possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three-year
war.
Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on
Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic
priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and
after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more
willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump
accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator
without elections.”
But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore
down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching
deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media
post that the Russian leader “ has gone absolutely CRAZY!” as the
bombardments continued.
“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody
that meant what he said," Trump said late Sunday. "He’ll talk so
beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”
The European Union can't buy Patriot missiles
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with
hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air
defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly
civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and
1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia
launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same
month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive
back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile)
front line.
Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot
air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for
the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.
While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member
countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and
sending weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting
official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson
Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on
Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine,
and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial
Times that it now has only six.
Trump ally says war at inflection point
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,
said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump
shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's
full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as
being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
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In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office,
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, left,
meets with United States Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia,
Joseph Keith Kellogg, at a train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday,
July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to
help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the
Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has
made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and
weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the
table.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took
part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February,
dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow
and Washington.
“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more
effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said
in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic
efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”
NATO chief visits Washington
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday
and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.
Talks during Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv will cover “defense,
strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people
and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,”
said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak.
“Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is
President Donald Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,”
Yermak said.
Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the
northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early
Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor’s office
said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.
Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400
missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force
said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were
either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses
downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with
Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
___
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in
Berlin contributed to this report.
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